News in Brief: A National Roundup

Room for Growth in New L.A. Plan

In an attempt to stay a few steps ahead of a potential enrollment
crisis, the new management team for the Los Angeles school system has
unveiled a six-year school construction plan intended to accommodate
120,000 additional students.

The district, the nation's second largest
and among the fastest-growing, now has 710,000 students in 660
schools.

Howard B. Miller, a lawyer and former school board member who was
named to the new post of chief operating officer in October, presented
the facilities plan at a school board meeting Nov. 23. It includes the
construction of 150 primary centers, which would serve students in
kindergarten through 4th grade, and the conversion of existing middle
schools into high schools. No new high schools would be built under the
proposal. The district's current construction plan calls for 97 new
schools over the next nine years, but due to management problems and a
lack of available land in the district, few of those schools will be
built as planned.

The school board, which has not yet endorsed the new plan, is
scheduled to hear more details later this month.

—Kerry A. White

Youth Crime Rate Down

Even though the total number of juveniles in the nation is on the
rise, juvenile violent crime is at its lowest level since 1987, and
fell 30 percent from 1994 to 1998, according to the U.S. Department of
Justice's office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention.

The agency's new report reflects a "substantial reduction" in the
number of juvenile arrests for every violent and property crime,
according to Shay Bilchik, the administrator of the juvenile-justice
office.

"Juvenile Arrest 1998" presents an analysis of the FBI's Uniform
Crime Reports data, and notes an almost 50 percent drop in the
murder-arrest rate for juveniles from 1993 to 1998. In addition, the
arrest rate for weapons-law violations dropped 33 percent during that
period.

In a separate finding from the agency, a survey shows only 28
percent of violent crimes against juveniles become known to police.
School victimization of juveniles is less likely to be reported to
police than nonschool victimization, according to the survey published
in the November Juvenile Justice Bulletin, but more likely to be
reported to some authority.

—Adrienne D. Coles

School Bond Lauded Online

Citizens of Fairmont, W.Va., interested in a multimillion-dollar
school bond proposal decided to use the Internet to promote their
cause.

Two weeks ago, the Marion County Bond Committee, a group of
citizens, school board members, and members of the county chamber of
commerce, launched a World Wide Web site to promote passage of the
Marion County Bond 2000.

The proposal, scheduled for a vote Feb. 26, calls for $29.7 million
to build a new high school, a new gymnasium, and a commons area at the
site of an existing high school, the 1,200-student North Marion High
School in Fairmont.

The Web site at www.mteer.com/bond, already contains a summary of
the proposal, estimated costs for both projects, drawings and plans for
the construction, tax rates for the proposed bond, and a section for
users to submit questions by e-mail. The site will be completed by the
end of the year, organizers said.

—Candice Furlan

Controversial Chief To Retire

An Alabama school official who sparked controversy five years ago by
proposing to bar interracial couples from a school prom plans to retire
Jan. 1.

Hulond Humphries, 62, has served in his current job as the elected
superintendent of the 2,200-student Randolph County school district
since July 1997.

He was forced to resign as the principal of Randolph County High
School in 1994, following a furor surrounding his prom proposal and
alleged comments he made to a student about racial mixing.

Ultimately, complaints about the situation led the U.S. Department
of Justice to reopen a desegregation lawsuit against the district and
compelled the Randolph County schools to take steps to remedy what
federal officials called a "racially hostile environment."

In the wake of the controversy, Mr. Humphries was elected to the
superintendent's post with support from 57 percent of voters.

—Erik W. Robelen

Bus-Driver Shortage Seen

Many Connecticut districts are staggering their school starting
times to make up for a shortage of bus drivers that is also being seen
nationwide.

Due to low unemployment, most school districts in Connecticut are
falling 10 percent short of the number of drivers needed, according to
Robin Leeds, the director of the Connecticut School Transportation
Association.

Linda Coates, a risk manager for Dattco Inc., a New Britain, Conn.,
company that provides transportation for students in the state, said
the company is trying to attract people who are not in the job market,
such as retirees and housewives.

Cliff Gibson, the area manager for the Connecticut division of
Laidlaw Transit of Napersville, Ill., the nation's largest provider of
school bus transportation, said that many of the 80 school districts in
Connecticut are staggering the start of the school day to allow for
fewer drivers.

The problem is not exclusive to Connecticut. About 20 percent more
school bus drivers—some 85,000 people—are needed
nationwide, according to the National Association of Pupil
Transportation.

—Candice Furlan

Players' Suspensions End

Thirteen football players from the 4,600-student Fontana (Calif.)
High School returned to class last week after serving five-day
suspensions for their involvement in a fight with opposing players at a
playoff game.

The fight broke out while players from the two teams were shaking
hands following the Nov. 19 game, which Fontana High lost. Players from
Fontana, which is 40 miles east of Los Angeles, say that students on
the opposing team taunted them with racial slurs.

Mike Demmer, the principal at Fontana, would not identify the races
of the students involved or elaborate on the alleged slurs. Under the
school's discipline policy, fighting is grounds for an automatic
suspension, which can range from three to five days. No one has voiced
concern over the length of the suspensions, Mr. Demmer said.

—Robert C. Johnston

Death

Jeanne S. Chall, a leading expert in reading research and
instruction, died of congestive heart failure Nov. 27 at her home in
Cambridge, Mass. She was 77.

A prolific writer, Chall was best known for Learning to Read: The
Great Debate, a 1967 book that put her in the midst of the national
debate about the best way to teach reading.

Over more than half a century in the field, the Polish-born
researcher developed diagnostic tools for reading specialists, advised
on children's educational television shows, and founded a reading
laboratory at the Harvard University graduate school of education.

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